This 40-story corporate headquarters is the first LEED Platinum certified tower in Europe. Cline Bettridge Bernstein designed the tower’s exterior night imagery and site lighting, as well as interior lighting for a complex network of lobbies, elevators, staircases and other public spaces. The project is the winner of a Lumen Award and an IES Illumination Award.
A soaring skylight canopy reaches out between two flanking buildings, beginning a sequence that takes visitors into the main lobby, which is set back from the street. Inside the lobby, illuminated ribbons of glass set into the floor border extensive areas of interior landscaping.
As Bilbao sees predominantly overcast weather, special attention is given to creating an uplifting quality of light by capitalizing on the materials and the inter-reflections between them. The designers created a composition that articulates and celebrates the building structure’s complicated geometry.